I originally saw this film on TV some years ago in a dark and dubbed print, and it left no abiding impression; however when I saw the director's own cut some years later, I was staggered by its brilliance and wondered whether indeed it could be the same movie. Belgian director Harry Kumel, the man behind the stylish vampire flick "Daughters of Darkness", had wanted to make a film of the fantasy novel by Jean Ray for some time, but struggled to get the financing. Assembling a remarkable cast which included Orson Welles, Susan Hampshire (in three very different roles), Jean-Pierre Cassel, and Michel Bouquet, the film was shot in English and French and then dubbed into different languages for different markets. By the time it arrived in Cannes, it had been chopped to bits by an outside editor, and left to die a critical death.
But Kumel was not defeated, eventually restoring this masterpiece to its original two hour running time and re-doing the dialogue in his native Flemish. I must confess when I first viewed the revision, I thought that Welles had looped his own dialogue, but this was wishful thinking on my part, as I understand that Kumel over-dubbed at least six of the characters himself -- not that this shows and not that it distracts from this very strange and dream-like bit of surrealism. I have seen the movie described as a horror film, but it is no such thing. It is a mind-blowing fantasmagoria with echoes of the Belgian artists Matisse and Delvaux; it's the story of a vast house of endless corridors, peopled with strange characters, and ruled over from his vast bed by the dying Welles. The viewer is left to wonder what is real and what is not, who is insane and who is whole, and whether the house's secret will ever be revealed. Having been led to wonder whether it was all a dream, a shattering ending dispels this illusion.
I have eventually got my grubby little paws on a Belgian DVD which includes the Kumel revision as well as the disposable English and French shorter versions, plus a host of fascinating supporting features. This film certainly deserves to be better known and so do search it out if you can.
1 comment:
I am sure it is a slip of the memory as I think you know the difference between
Matisse and Magritte. I do not concur with the Magritte reference but would rather suggest Ensor and Delvaux as there are works by the former which do have about them something of the horrific whereas Delvaux and Magritte are
otherworldly. Susan Hampshire is an actress whose performance as Fleur in
the original TV 'The Forsyte Saga' forever put her in the simpering category and
even a dark wig does not change this. Not quite a masterpiece but close to one.
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